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Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Have I seen the new AMC show that helped spawn the title of this week's post? No, I have not (and apparently neither has anyone else). But I love me some abstract word play, so here we are. And you deserve to have lengths gone to in your honor when you're a young utility player that's helped spark a record setting run. So, yeah. Here we are...

As for the Red Sox play of late. Notably, their being only the 3rd team in MLB history to back up a 10+ game losing streak with a winning streak of 7 or more. It would be more encouraging if it weren't so flukey (with key performances mostly coming from projected role players and prospects). On the one hand, it's great to see youngsters like Brock Holt and Ruby de la Rosa showing that they can help contribute to the big club (not to mention the current hot streak being enjoyed by Xander Bogaerts). But we all know that it's going to take consistent contributions from the big money players in order for this team to compete. And as encouraging as those young guys have been, they certainly seem like short term answers to long term problems. I mean, I'd love to be surprised. But there's a reason these guys started the season in the minors...

Rubby De La Rosa's full arsenal was on display inhis 1st start for the Sox. With some saying he has thebest changeup since...Clay Buchholz...

It's great to see them playing with the passion I knocked them for lacking last week, though. I'm thinking that scuffle with Tampa has been partly responsible for that, though. So we'll see how long that lasts...

Winning alone can bring that passion and excitement back, though. And with it, should come that fabled "accountability" I've been preaching about. But I'll look for a little more consistency before I start expecting that. Because, let's be honest. We're still talking about an under .500 team. And until that's no longer the case, there's really no reason to get too wrapped up into "why" they're 3 games under .500. They're there because they're consistently mediocre. And I don't think anything embodies that more than losing 10 and winning 7...

And, unfortunately. I think we're in for a lot of that for the rest of the summer. I'm not writing this team off, making any sweeping indictments, OR pretending to be encouraged because this stuff is "good for the future!". But inconsistency has been their calling car to this point, and barring something drastic, I fully expect that trend to continue. You know, for better or for worse...

In other news: Fargo is still the jump off, Louie is still (intentionally?) sketchy as all Hell, and this was probably the only performance you "missed" if you didn't catch the latest Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony...

Oh, and this was pretty awesome, too...

If there's any justice (spoiler alert: there isn't), Tom will get just as rousing and deserving a speech when he gets in. But, yeah. It's gonna be tough for anyone to do that one justice. Well done, Mr. Morello. Your speech was better than any song I ever heard KISS actually play. And I actually like "Lick It Up" quite a bit. DON'T WANNA WAIT TIL YOU KNOW ME BETTER! (RIFF RIFF RIFF, RIFF RIFF RIFF!)...

Otherwise, the induction ceremony was oddly underwhelming. Hall & Oates, Peter Gabriel, and Cat Stevens were just OK. And in another stunner, the HBO production team really butchered the tribute to the E Street Band. It was just a mess, with music often playing over them as they spoke, and with photos and videos being choppily thrown in as if there had been some shortage of time. Something I don't find likely, seeing as the broadcast was more than 3 hours long...

But, yeah. You can't win 'em all, and this was a rare miss in my book for HBO and the Rock & Roll HOF. I mean, I guess Gary Clark Jr. was busy, or somethin'. Meh. Maybe next time...

And, speaking of next time. That's when I'll catch you Teds! Hopefully, we'll again be talking about how the Red Sox made me look the fool with their winning ways. But, either way. I'm sure I'll find some top on which to wax poetic. Or whichever way I happen to feel like waxing at the time. Maybe I'll be waxing about the first Triple Crown winner since 1978? But, yeah. Probably not. Wax off, my damies. Wax off...